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In the dim post of antiquity,
giant dinosaurs roamed the
eartho Suddenly- the dino-
.,.Le
day
t·he
saur's strange world
come
1
JJ
to a cataclysmic endo This
mystery of the "great dying"
has been a century-long
puzz le to the best minds in
paleontologyo lts true
mean–
ing gives us a much-needed
understanding of this earth's
historyo
by
Paul Kroll
1
T
WAS
a bright and beautiful era in
that distant past- seventy million
years ago, say paleontologistso
Strange creatures were roaming this
eartho Dinosaurs dominated the
lando Pterosau rs ( Bying reptiles) flitted
through the skieso The oceans were alive
with giant marine reptiles called ich–
thyosaurs and mosasaurs.
The landscape of tbe earth was totally
different then. "We might," as one au–
thor put it, "well imagine ourselves
upon another planet."
None of the mammals with which we
are ordinarily familiar existed. There
were no dogs, no horses, no cattle, no
cats, no man walked upon the earth to
view this strange creationo
Few of the common insects with
which we are familiar, such as butter–
.flies and bees, are known to have
existed.
Two Different Worlds
Plant life in this Age of Reptiles
would seem strange to us. Cycads,
ferns, fern-like plants, dominated the
Jandscape. The flowering plants and
common trees simply were not in ex–
istence. There were no oak trees, no
maples, no tomate vines, no orange
trees, no marigolds, no sweet peas.
It was a world without the variety of
mammals we see today, few if any fish
with true scales, no array of feathered
fowl, no grains, no fruits, no vegetables
for man.
Thcn a series of strange and terrible
disasters wrought havoc on this earth.
The flying reptiles were completely
exterminated. The great dinosaurs van-
ished completely, leaving only a few
small scattered dinosaurolike creatures
for man's world todayo The great rep–
tiles of the sea became a thing of the
past. The strange plant lífc of that
time long ago was also destroyedo
It
was
replaced in great measure by the modero
plants of today - plants upon which
man and maroma! alike depend for their
survival.
With an alarming abruptness, that
entire world perished.
The dinosatm
tuere exterminate4!
We do have reptiles
with
us
today, but they "occupy a
humble, almost insignificant position,"
as one author put it. Almost without
exception they are crawling, sprawliog
creatures.
Today's snakes, lizards, turtles or
crocodiles are hardly chips off the old
block.
But why did the dinosaurs perish -
and
HOW?
Geologists admit they don't
know
!
It is a mystery they have not
solved, even after one hundred years of
sleuthing.
Yet, the fact that these ruling reptiles
perished violently and in astronomic
numbers is dear. That they left no des–
cendants is also irrefutable.
The Ultimate D isaster
Dinosaur expert Dr. Edwin Colbert
admits, "There can be no doubt about
ito All of the dinosaurt_ aJong with vari–
ous other oo. reptiles, became extinct.
"...
NOT ONE OF THEM SUR–
VIVED,
as is amply proved by the fact
that during almost a century and a half
of paleontological exploration, the wide
world over, no trace of a dinosaur bone
or tooth has ever been found
in
any
post-Cretaceous rocks, not even in the
earliest of them.
"The proof of the geologic record on
this score is
IRREFUTABLE"
(Dinosa11rs,
Edwin
H.
Colbert, p.
249).
This series of extinctions is one of
the most confusing puzzles in the his–
tory of paleontology. The greatest scien–
tists scratch their heads in amazement
at what occurred.
Nene claims to have the full answer.
For exampJe, Carl
O.
Dunbar,
in
his
well-known textbook,
Historícal Geol–
ogy,
is simply awed by this whole–
sale extinction of life.
A
Time of Crisis
"lt is
di!Jicult to accomzt
foc
the
SI·
MULTANEOUS EXTINCTION
of great
tribes of animals so diverse in relation–
ships and in habitats of life"
(Histor–
ical Geology,
Carl Dunbar, pp. 345,
348).
Thc expert Edwin H. Colbert speaks
frankly of this problem:
"The great extinction that wiped out
ALL
of the dinosaurs, large and small, in
all parts of the world, and
at the ¡ame
time
brought to an end various other
lines of reptilian evolution, was one of
the
OUTST.ANDJNG EVENTS
in the history
of life and in the history of the
earth ... it was an event that has
DE–
FIED ALL ATTEMPTS
at a satisfac–
tory explanatioo"
(The Age of Rep–
tiles,
p.
191).
Suddenly- New Forros of Life
This sudden extinction of reptilian
life was certainly a mysterious event.
But equally puzzling to scientists was
the sudden appearance of entirely new